Herald-Times
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Monroe County Correctional Center will be running on limited power for a short period in coming weeks as contractors relocate electrical generators to make way for the construction of a parking garage.
Nonetheless, Monroe County Sheriff Brad Swain said during the time it takes to get everything moved and reconnected, jail security will not be compromised.
Kevin R. Robling, owner of GSD Consulting LLC, said the current generators are located within the site for the proposed parking garage, which is expected to be completed in July 2016. While those generators are being relocated, temporary generators will provide power during the moving process. Robling said there will be a few hours near the start and finish of the almost 60-hour process when the facility will be running on limited power; that is, there will be enough energy to run functions such as temporary lighting and IT servers. Outside of those time slots, the jail will be operating as normal, Robling said.
Swain said the jail will be on lockdown during the periods that power is limited. In addition, there will be an increase in staff and patrols to ensure that during the drop in power, jail security remains strong.
In order to make the best of the situation, Swain said, staff will run a readiness drill to train jail officers on what to do if the building were to lose power completely.
“We will meet the challenge, and when we are done, we will evaluate how things went and determine if there is additional equipment we should have if there is a catastrophic event,” Swain said.
In the event of emergencies, Swain said, staff will still have access to all areas despite electronic locks being offline. He said more patrols will be made so an inmate can flag down someone for assistance if needed.
Also, the process should not prevent jail officers from contacting appropriate medical personnel to assist them in the case of a major medical emergency, Swain said.
For security reasons, Swain declined to give a specific date when the generator relocation will occur.